The Giants Get the Gas Face by Marc Rasbury

Anyone who is familiar with my work at The New York Beacon and the Harlem Community News knows that I can be a “Homer” at times. But as much as I would like to give Big Blue a pass on their performance, there is no way on God’s earth I can. Sunday’s 29-10 defeat at the hands of the Tennessee Titans was the most despicable performance in recent memory. Now I’m not about to pronounce the Giants officially dead. But if they do not want wholesale changes throughout the organization, they better wake up and snap out of this funk quick.

Now if they were a talented but inexperienced squad, I would give them some slack. That is not the case here. They are a veteran-laced team with the core of the roster possessing Super Bowl rings. It was only three years ago that Eli Manning, the entire offensive line and most of the defensive line went out and pulled the most improbable upset since Douglas-Tyson, Villanova-Georgetown or even Super Bowl III. I know that Michael Strahan is not here anymore but someone from that squad should have emerged and assumed the leadership role since that magical night in Glendale, Arizona.

The Titans are a quality team but the Giants should have beaten them handily on Sunday, especially, at home. However, you are not going to beat any quality team if you turn the ball over twice on first and goal situations and commit 11 penalties including 5 senseless dead ball fouls.

Head Coach Tom Coughlin warned his team that Jeff Fisher’s squad is notoriously known for trying to bait their opponents into fights. Even ex-Titan, now Giant, Keith Bullock told his new teammates what to expect when the Titans came calling. Unfortunately, Big Blue fell for those dummy tactics, hook, line and sinker. Kareem McKenzie and David Diehl, two of the more cerebral members of the team, took the bait as did Brandon Jacobs. Now these three have been in the League for a minute and are a part of that group that helped the Giants to their 17-14 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. They should have known better. Its ironic that Hakeem Nicks, a second year player, walked away after Titans S Chris Hope hit him after a play and taunted him about his first quarter gaffe that led to Manning’s first interception.

Despite all of the stupidity, the Giants still should have won this game. They outgained the Titans by over 200 overall yards. They had 9 more first downs. And they held the explosive Chris Johnson in check for the first 50 minutes of the contest. You never thought that Big Blue was out of this game. That was until that delay of game penalty on their third quarter FG attempt. The penalty moved them back five yards and Lawrence Tynes subsequently missed the next field goal attempt. You could feel the air just go out of the New Meadowlands Stadium and from that point on the Giants might have just waived the white flag. They were able to rebound from Manning’s left under-handed softball pitch that ended up in the hands of a Titan’s defender in the end zone, killing one drive. They were also able to bounce back from Ahmad Bradshaw’s fumble as he was about to cross the goal line that killed another TD drive. But that missed field goal signaled the beginning of the end.

Thank God, the Jets prevented me from going on the equivalent of a football suicide watch with their impressive road victory some six hours later. It seems that Gang Green and Big Blue are headed in different directions.

I still have faith in Big Blue. There is too much talent in that locker room for them to go out like this. However, with the 3-0 Bears coming into the Meadowlands on Sunday they better get their act together. I’m not buying Chicago just yet and this would be the perfect opportunity for the Giants to rise from the ashes. But if they do not cut down on the stupid penalties and the bonehead turnovers, then it is going to be a long season in the Land of the Giants.

About Derrel Johnson

Derrel Jazz Johnson is a sports and entertainment journalist and co-founder of CitySportsReport.com as well as a weekly columnist to New York Beacon as well as a frequent contributor to RollingOut.com, The Harlem Times and more. Derrel is a proud Harlemite who was born and raised in New York, and is an accomplished musician, poet, and huge sports fan.